Bluegrass Times

Kentucky relies on property taxes for 20.3 percent of its total state and local revenues, according to a Tax Foundation ranking of the 50 states.

That percentage for property tax reliance in Kentucky was the eighth lowest in the United States, according to the foundation’s numbers.

Property taxes in the U.S. as a whole made up 31.5 percent of the total state and local tax revenues collected in fiscal-year 2016, according to the Tax Foundation. And property taxes made up the largest share of state tax revenues in 26 states, the study said.

States that generate lower levels of property tax revenues rely more heavily on sales taxes, business taxes, excise taxes, severance taxes on energy production and other levies, according to the Tax Foundation.

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State Reliance on Property Tax Revenues

Rank	State	Property Tax as a % of State and Local Taxes
1	New Hampshire	64.7%
2	Alaska	53.7%
3	New Jersey	46.6%
4	Vermont	43.9%
5	Texas	43.8%
6	Rhode Island	43.4%
7	Wyoming	43.2%
8	Connecticut	40.5%
9	Maine	40.4%
10	Montana	39.7%
11	Nebraska	37.5%
12	Illinois	37.5%
13	Massachusetts	36.4%
14	Florida	36.3%
15	South Dakota	35.4%
16	Michigan	34.6%
17	Wisconsin	34.1%
18	Virginia	33.9%
19	South Carolina	33.9%
20	Kansas	33.1%
21	Iowa	32.4%
22	Oregon	32.0%
23	Georgia	31.7%
24	New York	31.1%
25	Colorado	30.8%
26	Arizona	29.6%
27	Pennsylvania	29.2%
28	Washington	28.4%
29	Ohio	28.3%
30	Mississippi	27.4%
31	Utah	27.2%
32	Idaho	26.9%
33	Missouri	26.4%
34	Minnesota	25.7%
35	Maryland	25.7%
36	California	25.7%
37	Tennessee	25.2%
38	Indiana	25.0%
39	North Carolina	24.9%
40	West Virginia	23.4%
41	Nevada	23.3%
42	Louisiana	22.8%
43	Kentucky	20.3%
44	Oklahoma	20.2%
45	New Mexico	19.7%
46	North Dakota	19.6%
47	Delaware	18.1%
48	Arkansas	18.0%
49	Hawaii	17.6%
50	Alabama	17.1%

Source: Tax Foundation